Sweet Peas
by Zombiebrainz
Summary: two years have gone by and team magma and aqua are now having to work off their crimes, which is a far better option than going to prison for sure. archie is positively infatuated with maxie by this point but maxie ain't having it with his constant requests for dinner dates, his cheesy one-liner compliments and ever-failing pick up lines. archie needs some coaching.


They had all been disbanded for two years now. In fact, Archie had been counting the days since such, for life had becoming boring without the constant struggling to remain one step ahead of Team Magma, of furthering his plans and hunting throughout Hoenn for what was needed to revive Kyogre. Now, peace had returned to Hoenn, and the former Team Aqua and Team Magma had somewhat banded together. Rather, they had been told that they could either face a very long sentence in prison, or work together in paying back Hoenn for all the mayhem they had caused.  
>Obviously, rather than suffer the horrors which were Hoenn's prisons, Archie and Maxie agreed to work with their teams—at least, with those members who hadn't fled the country—to repair all damages done and work for several years in order to pay off their debts.<p>

The destruction wreaked by Groudon and Kyogre's battle was practically non-existent now, the few notable changes being the absence of some buildings in Sootopolis that were deemed unworthy of being rebuilt, new islands that had surfaced due to Groudon's intense drought and shifting of the Earth, and slightly higher sea levels. There were some things they couldn't change.  
>But there were plenty of other things that could be altered.<br>"Hellloooo, Maxie," hummed Archie, a grin parting his lips as he sauntered up behind the redhead, who promptly shifted away on reflex before he could be grabbed.  
>"Don't. Touch. Me," the former Magma leader snapped, glaring back at Archie.<p>

It was a beautiful day outside, and just outside of Lilycove the strange, hodgepodge group of former Aqua and Magma members were preening the gardens marking the entrance to the city.  
>It was a new thing—early on, during the initial decision of making the former villainous teams work off their debts, Maxie had managed to convince the officials that the cities needed more gardens both just outside their perimeters and within them.<br>Pokemon, after all, loved variation in their environment, and wouldn't it be a good thing to lure in tourism?  
>Thus was Maxie armed with a garden fork and clippers, at one point providing directions to the clueless Aquas—they were so inexperienced, their brains were practically full of the seawater they loved—while helping plant bushes, flowers, and even a couple of trees.<p>

Now, as he often found himself doing, he was evading Archie's persistent advances, shaking the clippers threateningly in his direction.  
>"You're going to be in the ground with those flowers soon enough if you don't knock it off and start working," Maxie warned, his stern look not fading even with the pout he got.<br>"We've been working since—"  
>Archie paused, checking his watch.<br>"Eight a.m.! And it's _noon _now! It's ridiculous that we shouldn't be getting a break at some point soon."  
>Maxie was tempted to chuck one of the two items in his hands, both of which could probably knock Archie out cold if thrown hard enough.<br>Very tempting.

"I honestly don't believe you," dismissed Maxie, crouching back down to resume planting some of the Oran bushes he had brought with him. "You haven't complained once about working before this, and you always are trying to find an excuse to get alone with me—"  
>Maxie stabbed the small hoe he had been using harshly into the soil when feeling an arm curl about his shoulders, pulled close to Archie.<br>"Maaaaybeeee if you said yes to a dinner date I wouldn't be bugging you all the time," Archie cooed into his ear, Maxie counting to ten in his head.  
>"If you don't let go of me," he began, his voice staying a mutter, eyes fixated on the soil. "I'm going cut something very dear to you off with these clippers."<br>A Wurmple inched by, cooing excitedly as it nudged its way through the recently planted bushes. Curiously, it rounded about one, poking its head out to peer at the two men crouched nearby.  
>Instantly did it shrink back to hide at the sight of Maxie's dark, murderous look.<p>

Archie took heed, letting go with a heavy, defeated sigh.  
>"You just gotta give me a chance, Maxie!" he tried, pleadingly looking after Maxie as the redhead patted down the soil around the Oran bush, getting back to his feet and walking in some other direction.<br>"We don't have to be enemies, Maxie! Maxie!"  
>He was ignored, sullenly watching as Maxie went to scold some former Aqua members on how to <em>correctly <em>plant a bush, rather than just setting it on the ground and staring at it, waiting for the roots to sink into the soil miraculously by themselves.

Archie really needed a better method of wooing this guy.

-

It was three p.m.  
>A lunch break had been taken at one, after much convincing of Maxie—he was a slave driver, insistent that if they just kept working, they would have gotten the job done already—and now, Archie could feel that they were quite close to finishing.<br>He had actually seen Maxie _smile _once or twice, and while he seemed to get a storm cloud over his head whenever Archie came up, from a distance he swore he could see him looking relaxed and at ease as he worked.  
>Perhaps that was why over the past year Archie had begun to try and convince Maxie to give him a chance.<br>For one, he discovered he was also gay—even if he fiercely denied it, those magazines told a whole other story.  
>And secondly, he couldn't ever remember seeing him so comfortable and <em>happy.<br>_Obviously combating for expansion of land hadn't been a delightful business, and even though they still had another three years of work to pay back to Hoenn, it seemed Maxie had made something positive out of it.

Archie stared momentarily at the soft pink sweet peas he held—they were lovely flowers and they had been thriving quite well where they mainly grew closest to the Lilycove entrance—feeling a bit cheesy.  
>He didn't exactly go up to people often, proclaiming love and holding out flowers. It wasn't his style.<br>Archie much more preferred them swooning into his arms and going on about how good-looks and undeniable charm won them over.  
>Obviously Maxie wasn't to be doing that, so Plan B entailed lots of wooing, cliché romantic acts, and possibly standing outside his window with a boom box.<br>Too bad he didn't know of any songs Maxie might like.

The first step, however, was to be accomplished now, Archie feeling strangely skittish at the idea of being anything but overbearing with his affections.  
>Should he be speaking in rhymes or something, make his wooing sound like some lovely poem?<br>No, that'd be terrible. Archie almost gagged at the very thought of going so far.  
>But he was already near where Maxie was working, able to hear his voice—huh, who was he talking to?<br>From nervously contemplating how he would go about his new, far more romantic approach, he slowed down some, looking up in curiosity to where Maxie was.  
>The only time he was ever talking to somebody was when handing out orders or lashings—both which could pretty much end up being the same—and now, it sounded like he was holding out an actual conversation.<p>

"You should put your hair up more often, Maxie, it's looks good on you."  
>Weird. Very weird.<br>Usually Maxie was fending off anyone trying to dish out cheap compliments—aka, fending off Archie—and especially when he was working, claiming that he was too busy to listen to that kind of shit.  
>Archie, eavesdropping the best he could, casually stood behind a large sapling some of his former grunts were planting, trying to blend in with them as he stared down Maxie and—was that Tabitha?<br>"What're the flowers for, boss?" one of the grunts asked him in confusion, already baffled as to why Archie was standing so strangely close to the tree, and he was hissed at.  
>"Shut up."<br>Obeying, the grunt who had originally asked her question looked in confusion at her male counterpart, who shrugged helplessly, unable to explain why Archie was acting so weird.

Maxie was standing near Tabitha, supervising the planting of another tree nearby, and Tabitha was blathering on, his shoulder rubbing up against Maxie's.  
>Archie, who had been delicately holding onto the flowers, felt his grip tighten on them.<br>"Why don't we ever talk more often, Maxie? Even with Magma disbanded, doesn't mean we can't be buddies, eh?"  
>Tabitha was grinning and Maxie smiled back—<em>smiling, <em>at _that _buffoon?—as he shrugged, focusing back on the tree.  
>"I've been busy with all the work we've been doing. Don't really have time to be standing around chit-chatting," Maxie replied, and Tabitha snorted.<br>"You can say that again," he readily agreed, his eyes locked on Maxie's face, not even watching the sapling be planted.  
>"… You could always come to my place," Tabitha suddenly offered, Maxie still not looking at him. But he didn't look angry either, keeping his peaceful look, and thus Tabitha persisted even without an immediate response.<br>"There's so much that I'd love to talk to you about, and I'd love to start seeing you outside of work."  
>Tabitha reached up and from leaning gently against his former leader, his hand brushing along his shoulder, still just as close as before.<br>Maxie, brow furrowing slightly, looked back to respond to be interrupted by a snarl.  
>From leaning against him, his hand rubbing a bit too close to his neck, Tabitha was on the ground, a fist smashed into his face and another hand clutching onto his throat, pinning the thinner man underneath Archie's bulk.<p>

"Don't _fucking _touch him!" Archie snarled in his face, another punch slamming into Tabitha's jaw. Initially taken by surprise, Tabitha writhed in pain and to try and get free, blood dripping from his mouth and nose.  
>Throwing up arms, he braced for another hit, feeling the air whistle past Archie's fist-<br>"STOP!"

The weight crushing his lungs disappeared, Tabitha slowly shifting his arms to see Maxie shoving Archie off of him—with some obvious effort, the weight difference didn't exactly help him in his cause—and stepping in between him and Tabitha.  
>"He shouldn't be touching you like that!" sputtered Archie, struggling to sit up as Maxie crouched down next to Tabitha, surveying his split lip and the punctured skin along his jaw.<br>"Go get yourself cleaned up," he muttered to him, Tabitha looking tempted to argue, fiercely determined to remain and fight Archie. A harsh glare was enough to get him to nod numbly, stumbling to his feet and staggering off, someone coming up to help him back into Lilycove for some medical care, the others who had been busy working looking over in curiosity.

Most went straight back to what they had been doing with a vicious look from Maxie, whose happy appearance had long since died.  
>Having not responded to Archie, now did he turn upon him, staring down the man who still had yet to get back up.<br>"I can take care of myself," Maxie began through clenched teeth, obviously trying not to just kick Archie for his stupidity. "I'm not some damsel for you to save, even if you apparently think I am one with your shitty 'romantic' attempts. And when were you the one who decided who got to get close to me?"  
>Archie was silent, fury melting into gloom as he stared up at Maxie.<br>"Maxie, I—I'm sorry, I just got jealous, and I just—I just," Archie tried, unable to explain how exactly he felt—how much it stung seeing Tabitha able to get so close when he was always shoved away, how it hurt wondering why he was treated so differently.

"Maybe if you weren't so fixated on yourself, I would take you up on your dinner offers. But too bad you're just some low-life who can't see beyond his own needs."  
>Maxie looked away before he could see the pain in Archie's eyes, moving past him to start heading back to Lilycove.<br>"We're done for today!" he shouted as he went, not looking back. "Pack up your stuff and get out of here!"

Archie closed his eyes, staying there on the ground as tentatively the former Team Magma and Team Aqua grunts packed up their equipment and went on by, heading back to Lilycove before they would disperse to their own homes elsewhere in Hoenn.  
>Silent, he eventually looked back over, his eyes trailing to the flowers he had picked earlier.<br>They were trampled, the soft pink petals smashed into the ground where Maxie had walked by.

Tears of rejection stung the backs of his eyes.


End file.
